With the analysis of executive compensation in full swing, the highest-paid CEO in South Korea is a seasonal celebrity at best -- envied by peers, sometimes attacked by corporate gadflies.   For some owners of the nation's family-controlled conglomerates who don't want to attract attention to how much they earn, there's a way: Leave the board of directors.  In South Korea, companies are required to release the salary information of executives who earn more than 500 million won ($454,000) a year

The unionized workers of Samsung Techwin Co., one of four affiliates of Samsung Group that will be handed over to Hanwha Group this year, on Thursday said they have agreed to launch a strike in protest of the group's decision.The move came as 88.9 percent of the union's 2,998 members voted in support of the strike, while only 72 members opposed.   "We are not immediately jumping into the strike," a union official said, adding the details, including the schedule, will be decided in the future.  I

Suh Kyung-bae, chairman of South Korea's top cosmetic maker Amore Pacific Group, has overtaken Samsung Group's heir-apparent to become South Korea's second-richest man in stock value, climbing the stock-rich ladder by one notch, market data showed Thursday.At the end of March, Suh's stocks were valued at $8 billion, or 8.8 trillion won. The second richest man in South Korea relegated Lee Jay-yong, vice chairman of South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co., to a third spot, according to the

More than a hundred executives at Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's No. 1 tech giant, left their posts between late last year and the first quarter of 2015, data showed Thursday, in what seems to be an aftereffect of the lackluster performance in 2014 smartphone sales.  The number of unregistered executives at the world's top smartphone and memory chipmaker had stood at 1,219 in the quarter ending in September 2014, according to the company's half-yearly report filed with the Financial Supe

South Korean tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has hired a former top executive at Coca Cola Co. to lead its global marketing for the sagging mobile division.Pio Schunker, the former North American marketing executive of the U.S. beverage maker, will start working at Samsung's Seoul headquarters from April as a new global marketing director for the IT and mobile division, Samsung said, adding he will bolster the promotion of its latest smartphone Galaxy S6 series due out earl

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to see its first-quarter operating profit rise more than 2 percent on-quarter on strong performances of its flat-panel and chip divisions, analysts said Tuesday, Samsung is likely to post an operating profit of 5.41 trillion won ($4.89 billion) in the January-March period, up 2.36 percent from the 5.29 trillion won posted in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the median estimate of local analysts compiled by market tracker WISEfn.

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it will implement a full-fledged flexible work hour system starting in April, adding it will also be applied to overseas branches in the near future.Under the plan, employees are given the choice of when to come and leave their offices and are only obligated to work at least four hours a day, 40 hours a week. "The new policy is expected to foster employees' creativity," a Samsung official said. The move came a month after Samsung sugg

Shares of NS Shopping Co., a South Korean home shopping mall that specializes in food, gave back most of its opening gains in its Seoul market debut on Friday as investors remained cautious over its business outlook.The shares, which drew attention as the country's largest initial public offering this year, opened trade at 221,500 won ($200.42), below the top of its marketed range at 235,000 won. They jumped as much as 11.82 percent but shed their earlier gains to close at 215,500 won, up 1.89 p

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, opened a new production base in Vietnam on Friday that will manufacture the company's key products for exports, the company said.Located in Haiphong, a northern port city of the country, the 800,000-square-meter Vietnam Haiphong Campus will allow LG to produce price-competitive electronics goods, including its globally-sold smartphones and TVs, the company said. It plans to spend $1.5 billion on the complex through 2028.LG's existing factory i

South Korean builder Keangnam Enterprises, currently under a debt workout program, filed for court receivership on Friday, after its creditors rejected the company's request for additional financial support.The Seoul Central District Court said it has received the builder's application for the court debt-workout program.Earlier in the day, creditor banks of the cash-stripped builder turned down its petition for an additional 110 billion won ($99.2 million) in operating funds. The creditors, led

Prosecutors on Friday raided the home of a former vice president of POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. (POSCO E&C) over allegations that he helped create a slush fund in Vietnam a few years ago.Chung Dong-hwa allegedly helped the company's Vietnamese operations stash away about 10 billion won (US$9 million) in a secret reserve between 2009 and 2012, prosecutors said, adding he appears to have transferred 4 billion won back to South Korea.An internal audit within the company had found the exist

Creditors of South Korean builder Keangnam Enterprises, currently under a debt workout program, said Friday they have rejected the company's request for additional financial support and a debt-to-equity swap scheme.The company was to file for court receivership later in the day.Last week, the cash-strapped builder had asked for an additional 110 billion won ($99.2 million) in operating funds after the creditors, led by policy lender Export-Import Bank of Korea, had poured in 2.2 trillion won for

NS Shopping Co., South Korea's home shopping mall that specializes in food, was listed on the Seoul bourse on Friday, the country's largest initial public offering this year. NS Shopping opened trade at 221,500 won ($200.42), below the top of its marketed range at 235,000 won. Its shares jumped 8.75 percent in the first 20 minutes of trading in the benchmark KOSPI market.The company is 40.17 percent owned by Harim Holdings Co., the nation's largest poultry producer, and is the fourth home shoppi

South Korea's No. 2 handset maker, LG Electronics Inc., is set to roll out its next flagship smartphone at end-April, seeking to take on its bigger rival Samsung Electronics Co., which will also release new Galaxy smartphones in two weeks, industry sources said Friday.Presumably the G4, the smartphone is expected to come with an Quad HD display in the 5-inch range like its predecessor, the G3, but with a curved touch, according to the sources.Analysts said the G4 may become a gamechanger for LG,

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has slapped 3.5 billion won ($3.2 million) in fines against car parts suppliers found to have engaged in illegal cartel activities.The Fair Trade Commission said two Japanese companies and local subsidiaries, as well as a local manufacturer were found to have rigged prices in the past in violation of the country's anti-collusion rules.The companies supplied parts to Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. that effectively control around 75 percent